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Abbey Oldham

Photojournalist

Abbey Oldham is a senior at WKU with a background in photojournalism and humanities studies. She spent the fall of 2013 at NPR in Washington, D.C. as a multimedia/picture editing intern, following her two newspaper photo internships in San Antonio and Jackson, Michigan.

She grew up with an appreciation and love of public media thanks to her parents who have both worked for public television. Abbey is combining her skills with photojournalism and her love of public media as the staff photographer for WKU NPR and PBS as of January 2014. She hopes to make a career in public media with dreams of becoming a documentary filmmaker one day.

It's the time of year when people are tuning into special Halloween themed episodes of their favorite shows and searching the horror section of Netflix for their annual haunted pleasure. But some WKU students aren't only watching scary films, they are creating one.

Amber Langston, a WKU film student, wrote and directed "The Milkman," about a milkman in the 1950s who kills his customers. Langston and her crew shot the film Sunday, October 26, 2014.

Mon October 20, 2014

The WKU basketball season kicked off ceremonially Saturday at Hilltopper Hysteria at Diddle Arena. Fans came to watch the scrimmages, a three-point contest, dunk contest, and performances by the cheerleaders and Topperettes.

Coaches and players each had their chance in the spotlight as they were introduced to the crowd, dancing and posing to songs of the choice. For the first few minutes of the men's scrimmage, coach Ray Harper provided humorous play-by-play. The evening ended with a chance for fans to meet and get autographs from their favorite players.

The women's season opens at home against Bellarmine November 7 at 7 PM and the men's opens at home November 10 against Pikeville.

The WKU football team was unsuccessful in its quest for the team's first Conference USA win this weekend. Visiting UAB defeated the Toppers 42-39. WKU is 2-3 so far this season. The Toppers will face Florida Atlantic on October 18. The Toppers next home game is on Saturday, October 25 at 3 p.m. against Old Dominion.

A set of chairs currently on display at The Kentucky Museum on WKU’s campus offers a glimpse at some of the finest pieces of Appalachian art ever created.

The exhibit, “Chester Cornett: Beyond the Narrow Sky” features over 20 chairs made by Cornett, a simple and quiet man from the Appalachian region of Kentucky who possessed an amazing talent. Cornett was born in 1913 in Letcher County, and learned chair-making from his grandfather and uncle. He served in WWII, and then returned to his mountain home in 1945.

Brent Bjorkman, director of the Kentucky Folklife Program at WKU, says Cornett seemed to be at peace when he was creating chairs—a peace that alluded him in other aspects of his life.

“He grew up as a loner,” Bjorkman told WKU Public Radio. “Chester was a mountain kid who had difficulty fitting in with the community. He was also married a couple of times, and I think dealing with people was pretty hard for him. So I think he back again and again to expressing himself through this creative form that he felt was something familiar to him.”

A researcher at Mammoth Cave National Park is fearful that a fungal disease is set to kill large numbers of bats in the region.

White Nose Syndrome was first discovered at the park in south-central Kentucky last year, and has impacted at least six of the eight bat species found inside the cave. Rick Toomey, director of the Mammoth Cave International Center for Science and Learning, says researchers at the park are expecting a spike in White Nose cases.

“Unfortunately we’re expecting potentially our next big milestone this year, when we may start seeing fairly large population drops, or possibly finding bats dying of white nose at the park.”

Watch: WKU Public Radio photojournalist Abbey Oldham recently produced a video exploring the potential impact of White Nose Syndrome on the bat populations at Mammoth Cave, and what the park is doing to combat the fungus:

Toomey says an estimated 6.5 million bats in North America have died due to White Nose Syndrome, although he believes the actual number could be much higher. Great Smokey Mountains National Park in Tennessee has recently seen a surge in bat deaths due to White Nose Syndrome—deaths Toomey says haven’t shown up yet in official estimates.

Health

3:05 pm

Thu July 17, 2014

In the surgery wing of Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center named after her late husband, Nedra Thomas has been putting smiles on children's faces for over two decades.

Thomas began making sock monkeys to give to young patients heading into surgery at the Leithfield hospital. The project grew over the years and she now has a small team of volunteers who help in the effort. The group has become like a second family to the members, who look out for one another during sickness and loss.

WKU Public Radio photojournalist Abbey Oldham paid a visit to Leitchfield to meet with Thomas and learn about how the sock monkey program impacts both patients and volunteers.

Dozens of kids from around the region are participating in Aviation Camp at the Bowling Green Regional Airport.

The instructors from the Aviation Museum of Kentucky travel to airports around the state during the summer exposing young Kentuckians to aviation. The campers are learning the basics of aeronautics, navigation, using flight simulators, and even flying airplanes with assistance from instructors.

Photojournalist Abbey Oldham photographed Aviation Camp on Tuesday, July 8, 2014. There are two Bowling Green camps, July 8-9 and 10-11.

The Center for Courageous Kids in Scottsville, Ky., hosts nine different summer camps at no cost to their families.

They welcome up to 128 children who suffer from a different illness each week. The Center for Courageous Kids is a non-profit medical camping facility that has been open since February 2008. Since then, they have hosted over 16,500 campers from 40 different states. The Center sits on 168 acres on Scottsville and includes a bowling alley, indoor swimming pool, manmade lake, archery station, arts and crafts building, medical center, dining facility, and lodges for the campers.

Photojournalist Abbey Oldham visited the Center on Wednesday, July 2, 2014, and took photos of what the Center offers its young campers.

Summer Camp

1:04 pm

Fri June 13, 2014

Toula Burdette, 9, of Bowling Green, helps Renaldo Teitira, 8, of Bowling Green, tie his apron during Chef Camp at Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College in Bowling Green on Friday, June 13, 2014.

Kids ranging from 8-13 had a chance to learn kitchen basics from area professional chefs recently at Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College. They gained skills in kitchen hygiene, food preparation, serving and cleaning, as well as patience, teamwork, and cooperation.

With guidance from chefs, campers prepared dishes like quesadillas and crunchy cinammon coated ice cream balls. They served each other and washed dishes in their personalized chef hats.

Photojournalist Abbey Oldham took these images at the Chef Camp on Friday, June 13, 2014.

Hundreds of vintage car owners from all over the country visited the Sloan Convention center to display, sell, buy, and check out vintage cars during the public reception of the Holley National Hot Rod Reunion on Thursday, June 12, 2014.

The reunion lasts will continue the rest of the weekend at Beech Bend.

WKU Public Radio photojournalist Abbey Oldham created this photo slideshow featuring the vintage cars.